Kyle Wellwood

[cardsfan04]

And, who cares that I joined LGB a month or two ago? Really? That makes my opinion less thought out? I'm 25 now, and my family has had season tickets since I was 12, and now I buy them with my dad. Just because I'm new to the site doesn't mean I'm new to being a fan of the Blues. Feel free to disagree with anything I say. But, at least back it up with something other than me being a "newer poster."

Ok first off if you took exception to my post I apologize. We have some new people on here that are a little biased by the STL media. I will be at the game Saturday so I will buy you a beer to make amends if you like.

Now let's look at the facts of your post. Oshie is a good "blue collar" player. He is the kinda guy you need/want on your team. However he is not a superstar outside of STL. Perron, well all we can hope is that he can come back and not have a soft head. Pie is playing so much better than Johnson it's not funny so Johnson is under achieving. Taresanko we are not even sure if he is leaving the KHL. He is playing well over there but the talent in the NHL is bigger and faster so we don't even know if he is going to be an impact at all. Basil's kid so far I'm please with him and Reaves. That being said our core as you call it is pretty weak. We do not have a legit 30+ goal scorer on this team. Until we get someone who can consistently put up numbers we are going to be an also ran. Our front office is very weak in scouting and running the team this is not a secret. More to come after I treat some patients.

I wasn't overly offended or anything. I just don't like being discredited for irrelevant reasons. All good though.

I agree on Oshie, although I probably give more credit to him than you.

Perron seemed to be on his way to a breakout season this year. He has 5 goals in 10 games, which is on pace for 41 on the year. Obviously 5 in 10 is easier than 41 in 82, but it was promising, and I think he might be a 30 goal scorer, if he comes back healthy. But, if he doesn't, that's not Blues' management fault.

Agree on Pietro/Johnson too, but not worried either. Pietrangelo is playing phenomenally, especially for a 21yo. Very excited about him. Johnson is having a bad year. Making too many mistakes, and needs to contribute more offensively. But, I'm still excited about his future. One bad half to a season isn't a terrible thing for a young defenseman. Defensemen don't peak until ~30, so we have a really good thing there.

Backes is on pace for 27-28 goals. Not quite 30, and 4 (?) empty net goals. But, that's close to a 30 goal scorer.

And, you're right that we don't know that Tarasenko will come. But, I suspect that he will.

The major thing I think you're missing though, is that these guys are still REALLY young. Backes is the geezer of the group at 26. We can't expect him to improve much anymore I don't think, but Oshie, and moreso Perron likely have a couple of years before they peak. Oshie is going to be a career 20-25 goal scorer, but Perron might turn into a 40 goal scorer.

I'm sure there are places you can criticize the team. But, when healthy, we are a solid team who has far from peaked. And, the core of the team, like them or hate them, were built from within.

[stlbluz]

Damn Noobs!

[STLADOGG]

Lol I think every thread ends up with the same thing...the blues need a better scorer.

[Carl Racki]

Lol I think every thread ends up with the same thing...the blues need a scorer.

Fixed

[Robb_K]

Better to lose Svatos and Wellwood on waivers than to get saddled next year by giving them 2-year contracts, There's a reason why they didn't make an NHL roster in September/October. They were just needed while 2 or 3 injured forwards were out. Oshie is back. McDonald might be back in a couple weeks. Svatos and Wellwood weren't the solid scorers that were going to help The Blues scoring enough to guarantee them making the playoffs, or pushing The Blues over the hump for one or two playoff series wins. They needed to pick up a quality dependable goal scorer before this season started, as well as a Svatos type for depth to withstand a rash of forward injuries. Scatchard was NOT that guy.

We'll see if they're allowed (or able) to pick up a better scorer in trade before the deadline (depending upon what happens with McDonald and Perron). I don't want them to trade Cole. They are likely to need all their experienced defencemen for the playoff run. Their policy is to hold onto high draft choices, so not much value to give up in trade. Too bad they can't trade the rights to Barulin and Junland plus a couple 3rd rounders for a quality scoring forward.

[JPonder94]

McDonald might be back in a couple weeks.

Where did you hear this? Source?

[cprice12]

Bah... I don't really care that much that Wellwood isn't a Blue. What bothers me is that the Blues are trying to make moves to improve their lineup for what is probably only the short term, and teams are stepping in and stealing the players.

I can understand Nashville being allowed to snag Svatos coming up through waivers since they were below us in the standings at the time...but San Jose was above us in the standings when they grabbed Wellwood. How is that fair? Teams that are higher in the standings shouldn't be allowed to block moves and steal players from teams lower in the standings.

[dmiles2186]

Preach on JD.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=350042

While St. Louis Blues' president John Davidson accepts losing recently signed players Marek Svatos and Kyle Wellwood to the waiver process, he isn't happy about how the situation played out.

"I have no problems with the teams picking them because they didn't break a rule," Davidson told NHL Home Ice XM 204 on Tuesday. "The rule is what it is, but it could be tweaked."

Seeing his team ravaged by long-term injuries to several key players, the Blues looked to Europe to bolster their offensive ranks, first by signing former Colorado Avalanche sniper Marek Svatos, who had been released by KHL club Omsk Avangard, and then by inking one-time Toronto Maple Leaf and Vancouver Canuck playmaker Kyle Wellwood, who had seen his contract terminated by Mystischi Atlant.

In both cases, the aforementioned players were snapped up during the waiver process by rival teams that the Blues are battling in the Western Conference standings. The Nashville Predators snatched up Svatos, while the San Jose Sharks came calling for Wellwood. In both cases, it left a bad taste in Davidson's mouth.

"It's hard to understand how you can take a player who is finished somewhere else, becomes available, and you do all the work," Davidson told NHL Home Ice. "You do a formula to finding a contract, you make late-night phone calls, you get lawyers involved. Then you try to get him here, when nobody else had thought of it and the other team says 'Oh, I'm going to take that player.'"

Davidson feels that a change is necessary so that this situation does not arise again.

"Evolution is always a part of sports," Davidson told NHL Home Ice. "I know there's a lot of people out there that hate to see change, period. But life changes and this rule is archaic as it is currently written, in my opinion, and it's something that the general managers should address in the next GM's meetings and tweak it to make it more fair to everybody involved."

One of the main points of contention with Davidson is how under the current rules, any team in the league could potentially snap up a recently signed free agent through waivers.

"I think that if a player has to go on waivers coming through, only the teams below you in the standings should have the right to pick him up, and if they don't want him, you get him."

In addition, Davidson feels as though the team that loses out should be compensated for their labour.

"There should be some form of compensation in there. $100,000, $200,000, whatever it is, pick a number," Davidson told NHL Home Ice. "But for a team to do all the work, and have the player exposed to 29 other teams, it's very frustrating."

[cardsfan04]

Yeah, I agree on the rule needing to be changed. I didn't hear it, but my dad told me that Kerber explained the origin of the rule last night. Apparently, Edmonton, years ago, would sign a defensemen (I think the same one) every year right before the playoffs from some European team. So, they put the rule in place to prevent that from happening.

I don't understand why Edmonton wouldn't want him the entire year, if they needed him for the playoffs. But, this is a drastically different situation.

[kodos]

I'm annoyed that no one in the media seems to be making a big deal about it being the Sharks of all teams that snatched up our guy.

The cheap shot from a sharks player is the whole reason we need to sign fat losers like Wellwood...

It's a disgrace.

[Leedog]

The one thing that trying to get Svatos and Wellwood thru waivers says is that the braintrust is admitting they have painted themselves into a corner and need more scoring to get out of it.

[ohio BLUES]

The one thing that trying to get Svatos and Wellwood thru waivers says is that the braintrust is admitting they have painted themselves into a corner and need more scoring to get out of it.

Well, it would be scary if they couldn't admit it.

[cprice12]

I'm annoyed that no one in the media seems to be making a big deal about it being the Sharks of all teams that snatched up our guy.

The cheap shot from a sharks player is the whole reason we need to sign fat losers like Wellwood...

It's a disgrace.

Exactly.
They've f'd us over twice now.

Seriously...someone needs to take out Thornton or Heatley...concuss them for a few months. They've taken two of our players out of our lineup. I think it's fair if we take one of theirs.

[glen a richter]

here's a tweak:

Team A signs a guy from KHL
Team B picks them up on waivers as a block:

1) Team B is below team A in the standings, they lose a 3rd round pick
2) Team B is above team A in the standings, they lose a 1st round pick

[kodos]

Change it to $500,000 cash and a 6th round pick and it would solve the problem.

[theohall]

Change the "losing the pick" part to the pick goes to the team that lost the guy they claimed. That would certainly stop most of the nonsense.

[cprice12]

Change the "losing the pick" part to the pick goes to the team that lost the guy they claimed. That would certainly stop most of the nonsense.

I thought that was implied.

Anyway...
J.D. had mentioned 100k or 200k as possibilities.

Team doing the stealing gives $200k and their 6th round pick to the team who had the player stolen if the team doing the stealing is below them in the standings
or...
Team doing the stealing gives $400k and their 4th round pick to the team who had the player stolen if the team doing the stealing is above them in the standings.
I think that's a little more realistic.

A 1st or 2nd round pick + cash is way too much for a player nobody cared enough about to sign before the season started.

[cardsfan04]

Change the "losing the pick" part to the pick goes to the team that lost the guy they claimed. That would certainly stop most of the nonsense.

I thought that was implied.

Anyway...
J.D. had mentioned 100k or 200k as possibilities.

Team doing the stealing gives $200k and their 6th round pick to the team who had the player stolen if the team doing the stealing is below them in the standings
or...
Team doing the stealing gives $400k and their 4th round pick to the team who had the player stolen if the team doing the stealing is above them in the standings.
I think that's a little more realistic.

A 1st or 2nd round pick + cash is way too much for a player nobody cared enough about to sign before the season started.

I like those best.

I'm not a real big fan of a player having to clear waivers at all though.

[Nyghtewynd]

I love how everyone feels like defending these losers in the front office when they have now wasted time, effort, and money to attempt to sign two guys, and the net result has been (a) we're no better, but also (b) other team in our conference are better and didn't do a thing for it. It's the ultimate waste of resources, and a propos of a terribly-run franchise that either has no clue or doesn't really want to make the team better.

[AlsWoodenStick]

McDonald might be back in a couple weeks.

Where did you hear this? Source?

I heard on 101.1 ESPN that McDonald skated with the team for the first time since his injury, so that's good news.